


giving chase

by zippend



Category: The Hobbit (Jackson Movies)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Duty, F/M, Gen, Unrequited
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-12
Updated: 2014-01-12
Packaged: 2018-01-08 10:19:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1131489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zippend/pseuds/zippend
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Legolas has turned at the brush of an enemy’s breath too close, too late—and seen Tauriel’s smirk as the enemy drops, her arrow in its neck. She’s his childhood playmate, his captain of the guard, his sister-in-arms, the only one who understands his father’s cold love as he does.</p>
<p>Sometimes, feeling her leap deft and graceful into combat beside him, hearing the familiar release of her bow, catching the reflection of moonlight off her hair during nighttime patrol—he sees her, and in a moment’s there-and-gone, thinks: maybe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	giving chase

**Author's Note:**

> Legolas seems a lot colder and grimmer in the Hobbit movies than he did in LOTR, and DOS left me kinda heartbroken for him. It sucked that his home is being overrun by evil things and he’s constantly having to fight them back but is always losing ground—now his partner in the war to protect the Greenwood (and whom he's maybe starting to have feelings for) suddenly abandons him for a dwarf. Poor Legolas.

Legolas has turned at the brush of an enemy’s breath too close, too late—and seen Tauriel’s smirk as the enemy drops, her arrow in its neck. She’s his childhood playmate, his captain of the guard, his sister-in-arms, the only one who understands his father’s cold love as he does. He’s watched her grow up, grow strong. He trusts her aim as well as he does his own, and more and more these days, as he feels the darkness seeping into the woods, overtaking his father, clouding his own mind—he trusts her judgment more than his own. She’s idealistic, perhaps. But he trusts her to be good, when goodness is slowly suffocating in the world. 

Sometimes, feeling her leap deft and graceful into combat beside him, hearing the familiar release of her bow, catching the reflection of moonlight off her hair during nighttime patrol—he sees her, and in a moment’s there-and-gone, thinks: maybe. 

His father would never approve, of course. And Tauriel herself—she’s worked all her life to be worthy of his father’s favor. She’s a young captain and an unexpected one, but respected. Legolas doubts that she’s ever thought of the possibility between them seriously. 

Legolas is a prince, but his father is immortal and as able as he was when he secured the Woodland Realm. It’s just that Thranduil’s enemies are growing stronger. It’s unlikely now that Legolas would have a kingdom to inherit even were Thranduil ever to relinquish the throne. Legolas’ heart is stamped with duty to his father, loyalty to his people, devotion to the beauty of clear moonlight through the trees—but these loves are fact, unchangeable. Now he feels his heart deciding, almost without his consent: like a compass needle spinning, wavering, and finally, inexorably, settling on north. 

Eventually—a few more decades of living and fighting and leading their people together, with the darkness drawing closer, desperation drawing them together, and the decision will be mutual. 

+++

The dwarf is dark-haired, the youngest and least hairy of the thirteen they’ve captured. He catches Legolas’ eye because of the bow he scrambles for as soon as the spider releases him. A dwarf archer—unusual. Legolas examines the bow later; rough and wide compared to elvish bows, but strong, certainly, well-worn and cared for. Legolas heads towards his cell that first night; Tauriel is already there. Their whispers are intimate. Tauriel has never sounded so soft. 

Tauriel and Legolas’ relationship is that of a prince and his captain: unsentimental. Their childhood closeness was structured into the bounds of propriety centuries ago. Now, they speak their affection in mutual respect. They’ve never spoken of hopes or dreams or secrets, not even during long quiet watches, just the two of them in the trees. 

Legolas realizes that he had thought of it as certain, he and Tauriel. She had just yet to realize. But now he sees the romantic in her, and she’s seen the romantic in herself. The dwarf has thrown them off course. Still, the dwarf is only a prisoner, and she knows where her duty lies. 

+++

The dwarf is dead, and he’s relieved to find that he’s not glad to hear it. He is not yet so far gone. Tauriel’s face, though. And they’d known each other such a short time. 

Legolas chases her, catches up. For centuries he’s been the perfect prince; for the first time, he defies his father. He follows her. Against thirty orcs with no one to watch her back, even Tauriel is vulnerable, and they’ve always fought together. 

They kill orcs. At the doorway, about to chase after the orcs that are getting away, he looks back at her, sees her watching the dark-haired dwarf. Not quite dead after all, not yet. He calls her, knowing she’s torn, but knowing she’ll come. They’ve always fought together. 

+++

There are too many, too close, too strong. His bow is useless in such a physical fight, and he keeps expecting a reprieve that doesn’t come. He’s bleeding. His own blood unsettles him; it’s been so long since he’s been hurt badly enough to bleed. He realizes that she’s not coming. He shakes the sudden ringing in his head away, focuses his thoughts. 

He’d started this chase for Tauriel, but now the responsibility has passed to him. The orcs are getting away, and there’s no time to wait for backup that won’t come. He has a duty to see through. 

He gives chase alone.


End file.
